Things that go bump in the night
by Pyrodragon82
Summary: Something strange is happening in the Gerudo Desert. I don't know what it is, but it's scary.


**A/N This is my first published story. It's just a little suspense one-shot set in Twilight Princess. I know there's not much to it but I just thought it sounded like a cool idea that I had after playing through a certain part of the game. Anyone who wants to give constructive criticism, feel free. I probably need it.**

It was a quiet night in the Gerudo Desert. As I looked up at the stars, I figured my guard shift would go without a single hiccup. A cool breeze swept across me with barely a whisper, and I silently thanked my good luck at getting a night shift instead of a day one. The heat was no joke to be standing out here for hours in. I stifled a yawn as I swept my glance over what I could see of our camp, which was dotted with torches and guards, and a couple of campfires for roasting food. I looked forward to the end of my shift, when I could grab a bite to eat before turning in for the night. I sat down, trying to think of ways to entertain myself until my replacement arrived. I almost wished we would be attacked to relieve the monotony. It was that moment that I heard a distant thump.

I looked up and got back to my feet before looking around again. Nothing seemed wrong, but I could tell that something was off about what I was seeing. I looked again but couldn't determine anything in the darkness. I looked down at my partner at the base of my guard tower and asked him if he had heard or seen anything. He replied in the negative so I looked around again, trying to figure out why something didn't seem right. The breeze kicked up slightly and I suppressed the sudden urge to shiver as I willed my eyes to pierce the shadows and figure out what was so wrong about the picture, even though for the life of me I didn't see anything out of place. My eyes swept slowly from the rear of our camp, which I could see due to the torches, all the way to the ruined wall where our most forward guard posts were. Beyond that was nothing but darkness and sand.

That's when I realized what I was seeing, or rather _not_ seeing. Beyond the furthest guard post I could see was supposed to be a bottleneck pass, and then two more guard posts and a campfire out in the sand, with cavalry and archers as our first line of defense. But for some reason, I couldn't see that campfire. Tension settled into my gut. Had it been taken out? No, that was impossible. Someone would've seen and heard an attack. The guards would've sent out an alarm. There was no possible way the enemy could've taken them out that quickly and silently.

I looked at the nearest guard post to the front, trying to see if they had caught on to the fact that something wasn't right. But even as I looked, the torch there flickered and died. I growled lowly down to my partner that something was very wrong, but he just laughed back at me, telling me it was nerves and nothing else. My eyes jerked up as I heard another thump, this time closer than the first and another torch vanished from my gaze, plunging its surroundings into darkness. My mind leaped wildly, trying to find an explanation for this. Was it the power of shadow? Had the enemy found a way to use that against us, or were we being betrayed and sabotaged?

I drew my bow and slowly reached to nock an arrow, but a slight gleam alerted me. I dove off my guard tower and slammed down hard on my arm, cracking the bone instantly, as an arrow flew through the space my head had just been in. My partner yelped in alarm, only to be silenced as an arrow buried itself in his throat. He fell over and twitched a few times before going still. A blast of ice-cold wind struck me and our torch flickered and died under the freezing assault. I slowly got to my feet and turned around to find myself staring death in the eye. His blue irises narrowed at me with the glare of a predator, and I knew that I was his prey and there would be no escape. His green-clad arm rose, his gloved hand gripped the blue, winged hilt of his sword, and the silver blade that seemed to almost glow with an ethereal white light cut across my vision. Then my sight went black.


End file.
